A Ballygunge resident received a call from a “relative” who said he was in Singapore and needed money for a medical emergency in India.
The elderly resident of Mayfair Road transferred Rs 2.5 lakh to two accounts, as told by his “relative”, without an inkling that the person he was interacting with was an imposter.
Police said the imposter made video calls, too. He apparently resembled the “relative”, which made the complainant believe that the man who was seeking money was indeed what he was claiming to be — a relative he had known for 60 years but had not met in a long time.
The complainant has reported that he and his family members have transferred the money to two bank accounts before they realised their mistake.
The complainant has told the police that he had known this relative since his childhood.
“In the majority of the cases of impersonation that are reported, the fraudsters usually interact through phone calls or WhatsApp messages. This is a rare incident where the person had made video calls and had a resemblance with the relative he was pretending to be,” said an officer at Karaya police station, where the complaint has been lodged.
The complainant first received a WhatsApp message on September 22 from a person who introduced himself as “Arvind Agarwal”.
“The complainant has a close relative by that name. The imposter asked him if he was in Calcutta. When the complainant said yes, the imposter said he was in Singapore and he urgently needed money for the treatment of his sister-in-law, who had met with an accident in Calcutta and was admitted to a hospital in Barrackpore,” said an officer.
The complainant, without any suspicion, agreed to transfer Rs 75,000 to a bank account that was given to him.
“He introduced the complainant to one of his acquaintances in Calcutta to whose account the money was to be transferred,” said the
officer.
After the money was transferred, the imposter made several phone and video calls and sent text messages, asking for more money.
After a few transfers, the complainant was asked to send money to another account, which was in a bank in Belgaum in Karnataka. The complainant transferred Rs 55,000 to that account.
On September 23, when the complainant was asked for even more money citing rising hospital expenses, he became suspicious.
By the evening of September 23, the family managed to collect the phone number of the real Arvind Agarwal, who is from Barelly in Uttar Pradesh, and contacted him. He told them he was not in Singapore and that none of his relatives met with any accident.
The family lodged the police complaint on September 24.
The police said the cyber cell had taken up the probe.
“It appears someone who knew the family is behind this fraud,” said an officer at Lalbazar.